England: Klavier Bayon
Program: UW in London, Spring
Klavier’s Major: English
Describe your internship, research, or fieldwork and how the experience helped advance your career or studies.
I worked with Latin American Disabled People’s Project, which is the only charity in London that focuses on specifically Hispanic disabled people. I worked as a welfare advisor, so I helped disabled people obtain the services they needed from local and national authorities. It was a bilingual office, prepping me to work in ESL education. It also just helped my ethics strengthen and gave me an idea of what it looks like to tangibly help a community, which is a major goal of my education.
I think working in LADPP has prepared me for a lot, as I now have connections and experience working in disability and equity services. My primary goal is creating a more equitable educational environment, which I have now gained insight into.
What did you learn about yourself or the world because of your experience?
I learned that I am actually an incredibly confident person who has a positive impact on others regularly, and also I learned that it’s okay to have different priorities for a study abroad experience than others would. I went on the program to be with the UW professor leading it and to learn directly from him, and others were looking more for a traditional life-changing party semester. I felt a bit like I was missing out at times, even though I had no real interest in those things, I was just experiencing FOMO. When I realized that I would be having a pretty bad time doing those things, I remembered that it was perfectly acceptable to want different things.
How did your identities impact your experience? What advice would you give to students with similar identities who are considering a similar experience?
Being trans, I had a very unique experience. There were only, like, 3 trans people in the program that I knew of, including me. I also was placed in a room with 2 cisgender men. This could have gone really badly, and I was incredibly nervous. When I met the roommates, I was quickly impressed, because they did not hesitate to make me feel welcomed. I never once felt ostracized for my identity, or even like my inclusion was forced. This, combined with engaging with queer elders in a mentor/mentee setting, made for an unforgettable semester of being uplifted. I would tell other trans students to be cautious, of course, but also to be open to the possibility of wonder and surprise, because you might be amazed by the people you encounter that way.
What is your most memorable experience from your program?
My most memorable experience in the program was during a class field trip. We were on a walking tour with Ash Kotak, who is an AIDS activist working on installing the first permanent AIDS memorial in London. He got very personal with us, and spoke with us about the political environment in the US. We were all study abroad students, and the class was only 5 people, so it was very intimate. He gave me some incredibly powerful words to hold onto as a trans student.